This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Winches are commonly used for off-road vehicles and in farm, ranch, and other industrial applications where an operator is using the rope or cable to connect to various structures. In order to quickly spool-out the rope or cable from a winch, winches are commonly provided with a free-spool operation mode which is typically operated by a manual shift lever on the winch gear case that disengages a clutch device from a component of the planetary gear system of the winch. Often times, the winch cable is connected to the various structures at a distance from the winch and the operator is required to walk back and forth to the winch for disengaging and re-engaging the clutch. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a remote actuated clutch for a winch to allow the operator to disengage and re-engage the winch clutch from a remote location.